Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Advice - Camera for my wife

The SLR thread proves that there are some very camera savvy folks within this group but this is not SLR related so I'll start a new thread.

My 'what should I get my wife for Christmas?' question was abruptly answered when I dropped our camera on the weekend while taking pictures of her 1st year of real Christmas decorating in the new home. It still works but battery life has suddenly degraded to under 10 minutes and the optical viewfinder is now crooked by about 8 to 10 degrees. Picture how crazy that made me before I realized what was wrong!

I can't afford an SLR right now. Plus ours is mostly a snapshot lifestyle. It should travel well and should fit in a purse for for my wife. (My big pack has an SLR sized camera pouch on the side that I am itching to fill, but now is not the time and people look at you funny when you wear a backpack to a wedding.)

I haven't done any research on models yet but I am aware of most basic things to consider. Resolution, Optical zoom = good vs. digital zoom = bad, total memory and type, decent LCD screen, etc.

Mine are mostly outdoor pictures while my wife's are mostly vacations, our pets and friendly gatherings of all sorts.

We used very few features on our old. Macro mode makes for some interesting experiments. Red eye I can remove on the PC. Rarely used the video clip feature as it wasn't very good quality on the old, I don't believe I'd miss it and my wife never used it.

Just wondering if anyone has any advice for something around the 200 to 250 $ price range that still produces a nice picture for that price range. Can I expect decent reslts in this price range? I paid 250 for our old but it was a 50% off boxing day sale. It was a HP Photosmart of some model number, nothing special but worked well till it's recent accident. I could pay a bit more if there was a convincing argument in that direction. Any advice on what to look for outside the very basics I already mentioned, is also appreciated.

Some other considerations.

I have a bunch of SD memory cards for various things so being able to utilize them would be nice but not necessary.

I have a ton of rechargeable aa and aaa batteries so I'd prefer to be able to use these vs a self charging proprietary battery. That way, I'm rarely stuck without power and can get away with forgetting the power supply charger on a trip as I can always just break down and by more.


Thanks all who can help

I picked up the Canon SD700 in Feb. this year and it takes great pics and my wife likes it because it will fit in her pocket. I believe it was replaced by the SD750.

In my research it was determined that about 7 megapixels is about the best resolution the CCD chip will do with out getting too grainy from the point and shoot cameras or was it more do to with the lenses than the CCD chip? Anyway some of the reviews I read of the higher pixel cameras said they became very grainy especially indoor shots(we do about half indoor and half outdoor, or last camera was quite grainy indoors so I was determined to get a better indoor camera). This Canon takes the best indoor shots I have seen from a point and click camera. I was also looking at some of the higher ISO rated cameras(FUJI appeared to win in this area) and the reviews from users said that they were over rated so I went with the Canon.

The Canon takes great movies as well. The body of the SD series is metal and it uses SD cards.

I recently purchased the Canon SD750, easy to use, easy to carry, pictures are very good.

I'll have to agree that the Canon SD series is a very good line of Digital Cameras. I have the older versions currently, but they are still very good cameras.

The first one we owned was the SD200 or 250 and a friend of ours borrowed it and dropped it on a rock and cracked the display. It was cheaper to replace it, so she bought us the SD600.

I have the SD300 and I use it all the time for pics and vids and have no complaints about it at all.

I have a Canon S3 IS and still highly recommend it. It is a little larger than some but probably the best optics for the dollar.

Another vote for Canon. I've never been disappointed by their products. We have an OLD (SD330?) that still takes great pictures. It is gigantic by today's standards.

For what you're talking about, I think form factor and ease of use are HUGE considerations. Especially if it is for your wife.

I have a friend who swears by the Casio Exilim he bought a couple years ago. I trust the work they do at DP Review. Lots of good info there. Maybe too much

Murph, I know you're attached to your rechargeable batteries. But my experience with the Canon packs has been unbelievably good. One full charge lasts me several shooting sessions. Basically, I've never ran out of battery before I first ran out of CF space.

The Canon SD870 has image stabilization and a 3.8x optical wide angle zoom, which are nice enhanced features. Looks like it is about $300.

I think the Image stabilization feature is across the whole SD series now. My SD700 has it too.

Andrew, consider the Canon A710 .

Thanks, Jason. I did not know that about the IS.

The A series cameras are quite a bit larger form factor than the SD. That's not necessarily a bad thing, unless it keeps the user from, well, USING the thing.

The A series is viable for Murph as he stated he wanted to use his rechargeables and they really are not that big. I agree that the batteries for the SD series are great. I have the extra battery and charger and I have never been with out the camera in working condition. Those batteries seem to last about 1000 pics, exaggerating a little here, as I never take quite that many at any one time but over a few months we take 100-300 and I swap out the battery 'just in case'. I thnk I have only run out of battery once and the spare one was charged and ready to go.